“It’s just humbling,” says the soft-spoken Jerry Lorenzo via phone, about the rapid success of his menswear label, Fear of God. The line, whose latest offering is available for preorder starting November 1, might only be four collections deep, but it already counts stylish A-listers—including Kanye and Kim Kardashian West, David Beckham, and Justin Bieber—as fans. “I essentially started to go to downtown Los Angeles to make pieces that were missing from my closet,” he says. “Selfishly, so I could look cooler.”

That approach seems to be paying off: Many of his signature jeans and plaid shirts sell out within weeks of posting on the brand’s website. Citing the style of basketball star Allen Iverson and grunge legend Kurt Cobain as his two main influences, Lorenzo attributes the popularity of the line to a foundation of the most essential items in an everyday wardrobe. “Nothing of what I’m doing is anything that hasn’t been seen before,” he says. “It’s sweatshirts, it’s bombers, it’s a dad shirt. It’s classic American menswear with my take on it.”

Using the imagery of iconic American rock bands as a starting point, his vintage-inspired band tees have that evergreen cool factor, too, and have been spotted on the likes of Justin Bieber and David Beckham—which only makes sense, given that the brand’s name sounds like it was swiped from the lineup of an alt-rock music festival. “I’m not a graphic artist. For me the best version of a graphic tee is a vintage band tee,” Lorenzo says. “It’s the fact that when you wear it, it might spark a conversation with some 40-year-old fan of Metallica that you bump into in the grocery store.”

It doesn’t hurt that some high-profile women in music have shown interest in the label, as well, including a certain bootylicious superstar. “I had to pause and screenshot Beyoncé when she wore the Fear of God thermals in the video for ‘7/11,’ ” he says. “That was one of the most awesome things.” Lorenzo says his focus is strictly on menswear for now, but who knows— perhaps a Fear of Goddess women’s line is on the horizon.